Slave to Destiny

Blaire and I were lounging lazily on the freshly cut green grass watching the carnival below us from a small hill. It was day three of festivals and we were already bored out of our minds. “This is so lame. I’m sick of these people,” she whined. I nodded in agreement. Day three was a celebration of night. So the decorations had naturally been changed from the days prior. It was actually very annoying having to change decorations daily. Plus we had to help set up new acts everyday.

Glancing over at Blaire I watched as her eyes locked onto something below. Out of curiosity I followed her stare. She was staring at Daniel who was currently yelling angrily at an old man with wild ebony colored hair and a rugged suit. I couldn’t deny my curiosity either. What had him so angry?

“Who’s Daniel talking to?” I questioned her as I stared.

Blaire responded without hesitation, “That’s his father. It’s sad really, he’s losing it.” The words losing it didn’t sit well with me. What does that even me?

Upon seeing my perplexed expression she further explained her answer, “His mother died a few years back. They’d been together for a hundred and fifty years. They didn’t have Daniel until about twenty years ago. Anyway after her death, his dad started to lose it. He loved her so much he just couldn’t live without her. It’s more common than you’d think. Once you become so attached to someone you can’t really live without them. Daniel is taking it really hard.”

I felt pity for Daniel. He was so kind and supportive to me. It had never occurred to me that he would emotional problems of his own. He was always so upbeat and optimistic. “How long have you know him?” I asked her. They must have been pretty close considering he found it fit to reveal my identity to her.

“I’ve known Danny sense I was four,” she muttered lightly a grin on her face, “My mom used to always take me over there to play, but then I got sent to an all girls boarding school at age twelve. I was never even aloud to come home during breaks. So I didn’t get to see him until I graduated last year.”

I stared at her concerned face, it dawned onto me, “You’re in love with him,” I stated. It was so obvious by the way she was talking about him. No wonder he told her about me. The pieces were all coming together.

She laughed, before responding in a sad voice, “I suppose you could say that. We will never be together though.”

“Why not?” for someone who was so optimistic about my love life, she was certainly negative about her own. Why wouldn’t he want to date her?

A sad smile was on her face, “It’s hard to find someone you love when you can hear their thoughts. Every vain, harsh, annoyed thought you have during the day is hard. We tried, but it just didn’t work. Our love will forever be in the form of friendship. He needs someone who he mentally agrees with on every level and I’m just not that girl.” My head dropped at the thought of her pain. It made sense, having someone who could read your mind makes things more complex when in a relationship. You could never have secrets. Cole and I were full of secrets.

When she saw my face twist into sadness she quickly responded, “It’s okay though. I don’t have my heart stuck on him, he’s still a great friend.” Blaire was strange to me. She was more self assured than I could ever hope to be, but her mind was actually quite complex.

“I’m really nervous about the ball,” I admitted casually as I pulled myself off the grass. It was about time for me to get back to work with Edmund. He was probably getting into loads of trouble like usual.

Blaire laughed out loud, “Don’t be, you’ll be absolutely perfect. I bought you a dress. It’s gorgeous.” There was so much joy in her words. It didn’t bother her that she was creating my fairy tale instead of her own.

A small smile played on my lips before I replied lazily, “We’ll see,” and darted off down the hill towards the crowds of vampires. It didn’t take long for me to find King Edmund. He was surrounded by security guards in Cole’s arms. People all around were giving him looks. Who could blame them? He wasn’t exactly being very kingly for his people. They were probably becoming alarmed.

Perhaps it would be good for me considering they would be less committed to his allegiance, or maybe it would be bad. Maybe they would decide to go ahead and kill him putting Corban in complete control. I cared about Edmund with every ounce of my heart. He had become the little brother I’d never had. I would never let them hurt him. The easy way out would be to kill Edmund, Corban, and Cole, but I couldn’t do it.

“Gabby!” Edmund squealed as he tried to break free of Cole’s grip. Slowly Cole raised his head and grinned at me. Gently he set Edmund down on the ground allowing the child to dart over and wrap his arms around my legs.

Cole sauntered towards me with swagger in each step. After last night his mood had definitely brightened. “Hello beautiful,” Cole muttered smirking. Quickly I glanced around to see if anybody was watching. He laughed out loud at my reaction. “Nobody is watching. They already think you’re weird because you keep taking care of Edmund.”

“Yeah I guess,” I mumbled. As much as I enjoyed Cole being all nice to me, it felt very off given the circumstances. Subconsciously my bony hand reached up to touch the collar around my neck. I could never be me until I was free. Caging the wolf felt so wrong. It felt almost as wrong as loving Cole.